Ph.D
Mrs Mehraneh Rayatidamavandi will present his P.H.D thesis on "Defining Design Criteria of Children’s Playgrounds in Urban Parks for Promoting Sense of Vitality" in Iran at 17:00 P.M on December 5th 2016.
Abstract
The increase in population of children in Iran in recent years has led to special attention to their education and development. The built environment in which a child grows up in can have profound influence on their educational and developmental experience. One of the most important issues in the planning of urban open spaces is to address the needs of children, in order to accommodate beneficial development. Today, urban parks are prominent assets of metropolitan areas and have important roles in satisfying people’s social and individual necessities. The purpose of this research is to provide a flexible framework for explaining children’s interactions with place and the integration of environmental and psychological-based approaches in urban open spaces. This research also emphasizes the use of environmental capabilities for understanding the human being’s mind and behavior in order to achieve design criteria for 7-12 year old children’s spaces in parks to promote their sense of vitality.
The main question of this study is: “What is the relationship between physical features of urban green space and their ability to satisfy children’s vitality?” The sub question of this study is: “What hierarchy of activities, forms and materials in the design of a natural playground can enhance the sense of vitality in children?” In the first step, after reviewing research background of interactional behavior, vitality and its relationship with creativity, contemporary ideas and theories were investigated. In the second step, in order to control and scrutinize the proposed analytical framework, criteria was extracted and indicators were studied using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. In the final step, based on the results of two previous stages, the relationship between theoretical and experimental findings was analyzed. In all of these stages, collaboration between children and design professionals were utilized to improve the design process and fully understand the needs of the users of the proposed design, rather than only relying on the ideas of the designers and planners.
Results of the tests and workshops, which were conducted with children both in the US and Iran, showed that activities related to play are consistent within this age range of children and cultural differences were between the two countries had a minimal effect on the requirements for children’s play. Furthermore, explaining children’s thoughts, needs and inclinations of children’s environments, designers and specialists indicated that three main categories including naturalistic, humanistic and environmental guidelines containing the use of natural elements and materials, legibility and recognition of the playground, flexibility, and multi-functionality of a space are the most important factors which can promote sense of vitality in children.